ARTICLE: Bloom, NFL hopeful, to try for skiing medal today

[trickblue]

Link

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Bloom, NFL hopeful, to try for skiing medal today
[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]TURIN, Italy[/FONT] - [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The NFL scouting combine will begin next week, and most draft hopefuls are approaching it as they would a Super Bowl. They've spent months training for the shuttle drill, vertical leap and even the interviews.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Then there's Jeremy Bloom. He's getting ready by competing today in the moguls skiing event at the Winter Olympics.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"I don't know of anything more unorthodox," said Gil Brandt, an NFL Draft consultant. "He's a special athlete. I'm looking forward to seeing him and meeting him myself."

[/FONT] [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Bloom will be the man to watch as much for his football past and future as for his chances to win. And his chances are good - he won on the Olympics course last season during an unprecedented run of six straight World Cup victories.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Bloom's quest is a natural for NBC, especially since the network will again have the NFL this fall. So expect moguls to be a big part of a prime-time show that is also slated to feature the day's other four medals events: women's downhill, men's luge doubles, the Nordic combined team event and women's 500-meter short track speedskating.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]When Bloom was in the 2002 Olympics, his budding football career was a nice side note as he finished ninth. A few months later, he started playing at Colorado and immediately became a big name by showing he could bring his swift moves from the slopes to the turf.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]His very first play was a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown. His first reception went 94 yards for another score.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]After two seasons, he was averaging a whopping 16.6 yards every time he touched the ball and had five touchdowns, all covering at least 75 yards. He compiled enough highlights for his agent, Gary Wichard, to put together a DVD with about 70 plays, several showing Bloom running away from players now in the NFL.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]There would've been more if the NCAA had not been so upset about Bloom's continuing his skiing career and accepting endorsements to pay for it while also playing football. Told to pick a sport, he sued instead - and lost.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Focusing only on moguls worked out quite well. He finished second at the 2003 World Championships, dominated the '05 World Cup season and became rich as a pitchman. Vince Young and Reggie Bush can only hope that being top NFL draft picks turns out as lucrative.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But the layoff made Bloom yearn for football. Proving his commitment, he is flying out of Italy on Friday, then going to the combine next Thursday. He has also told NFL teams he'll accept a no-skiing clause in his contract.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"After his rookie year, he won't say, 'I have to go join the U.S. team for World Cups,'" Wichard said. "He's a football player. His offseasons will be spent getting ready for the NFL season."[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]At 5-9, 170 pounds, Bloom isn't the prototype size for an NFL receiver. But he is in the mold of the Carolina Panthers' Steve Smith, who just led the league in catches, yards and touchdowns by capitalizing on 5-yard no-touch rules that benefit speedsters. Bloom is probably about as fast as Smith or Santana Moss, another pint-sized Pro Bowler. We'll know for sure after he runs the 40-yard dash at the combine.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"Anybody that has the daredevil in him that he has as a skier should have outstanding traits as a kick returner," said Brandt, who drafted several Olym-pians from summer sports during his long tenure as the personnel director of the Dallas Cowboys.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]When Bloom will be drafted is as tough to predict as which team will take him. [/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Brandt figures he'll be gone by the middle of the fourth round, perhaps late in the third to a team that has extra picks and is willing to take a "why not?" gamble, as Denver did last year in grabbing Maurice Clarett with a compensatory selection after the third round.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"It's not like he's been sitting at home like Clarett," Wichard said. "He's been competing at a world-class level against world-class athletes in a sport based on speed. It's not so much a mystery to see what he can do."[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Australia's Dale Begg-Smith and American Toby Dawson are expected to be Bloom's toughest foes. The U.S. squad also boasts 2002 silver medalist Travis Mayer and '03 World Cup champion Travis Cabral.[/FONT]
​

 

[Chocolate Lab]

He's very small... But I remember seeing some college skills challenge a couple of years ago, and he smoked everyone in the fastest man contest. The guy can really fly.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

I think he could make a team as a practice squad player at this point.

His size, and being away from the game for so long, really concern me about his overall commitment to the game and his current skill level.

Good athlete but probably wont amount to anything in the NFL besides a highlight now and then.

 

[Yeagermeister]

If we had extra picks to spare I wouldn't mind drafting him. He sounds like another Tim Dwight.

 

[burmafrd]

Just shows how much hypocrisy the NCAA has; they have no problem with him getting money for skiing- but try and get money for football. What a pathetic joke. It should be the same rules for anyone in any sport. Actually the whole so called amateur thing is a joke anymore.

 

[AdamJT13]

Just shows how much hypocrisy the NCAA has; they have no problem with him getting money for skiing- but try and get money for football. What a pathetic joke. It should be the same rules for anyone in any sport. Actually the whole so called amateur thing is a joke anymore.

The NCAA did have a problem with him getting endorsement money for skiing. That's why he couldn't play football anymore -- he became ineligible.

 

[burmafrd]

the thread said that he had to pick a sport and stick with it- supposedly that is what the NCAA told him. Still its a joke to talk about AMATEUR anything in a major sport anymore. The NCAA is a joke anyway.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

the thread said that he had to pick a sport and stick with it- supposedly that is what the NCAA told him. Still its a joke to talk about AMATEUR anything in a major sport anymore. The NCAA is a joke anyway.

That is because he had a football scholarship. So he had to either be a pro skier or amateur FB player. I dont think the school really wanted to lose him on the football field as much as I think they had their hands tied and did not want to face future repercussions.

 

[Yeagermeister]

That is because he had a football scholarship. So he had to either be a pro skier or amateur FB player. I dont think the school really wanted to lose him on the football field as much as I think they had their hands tied and did not want to face future repercussions.

I wonder what the NCAA would have said if he had given up the scholarship and became a walk on?

 

[AdamJT13]

the thread said that he had to pick a sport and stick with it- supposedly that is what the NCAA told him. Still its a joke to talk about AMATEUR anything in a major sport anymore. The NCAA is a joke anyway.

You do understand that freestyle skiing is not an NCAA sport, don't you? If he wanted to be a skier and accept endorsement money, he couldn't play an NCAA sport.

 

[joseephuss]

You do understand that freestyle skiing is not an NCAA sport, don't you? If he wanted to be a skier and accept endorsement money, he couldn't play an NCAA sport.

Yep, but a guy can get paid to play baseball and still play college football. He got screwed by the NCAA. It was obvious that neither he nor CU were trying to beat the system and pay off players. I don't think he has much of a football future even if he had continued playing in college, but he definitly was treated unfairly.

 

[TonyS]

He didn't place in the Top 3. I think he was 5th or 6th. He didn't look like he had "it" when he needed "it." Will be interesting to see where he ends up after the combine. They said he ran the 100 yard dash in something like 9.xx seconds. Is that possible?

 

[trickblue]

He didn't place in the Top 3. I think he was 5th or 6th. He didn't look like he had "it" when he needed "it." Will be interesting to see where he ends up after the combine. They said he ran the 100 yard dash in something like 9.xx seconds. Is that possible?

Yep... the record was 9.1...

 

[Bob Sacamano]

His size, and being away from the game for so long, really concern me about his overall commitment to the game and his current skill level.

he always put football before skiing, I don't think his commitment will be a problem

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Yep... the record was 9.1...

I read somewhere that he ran a 9.3 or 9.4

kid is fast *understatement*

 

[AdamJT13]

Yep, but a guy can get paid to play baseball and still play college football. He got *****ed by the NCAA. It was obvious that neither he nor CU were trying to beat the system and pay off players. I don't think he has much of a football future even if he had continued playing in college, but he definitly was treated unfairly.

Baseball players can't accept endorsement money, either. That's what made Bloom lose his eligibility. He could get paid to ski, but he couldn't accept endorsement money from sponsors -- just like any other NCAA athlete.